Hey! It's Fair Trade Month! This Fair Trade Month feels a lot more low key than previous ones and I think it's because, for more and more people, every month feels like a celebration of what fair trade does for communities. It's awesome to look back over the last three or so years and see that things have progressed, and in more ways than one!

Even though the news is bleak and the ocean of injustice is impossible to swim across alone (maybe we can do it relay style?), I know we can make a difference, because I can see how far we've already come. So let's celebrate people power and look for more ways to be kind: to others, to ourselves, and to the earth and everything it sustains.

This month also marks the one year anniversary of my switch to Blogger from WordPress and my ever-so-slight re-branding. It's been great to work with so many cool brands, reviewing their carefully crafted goods, supporting their fundraising campaigns, and doing giveaways. I feel like I have a much better grip on what I want collaborations with brands to look like after several months of tweaking my media kit.

And I'm so thankful for the rapid growth in blog readers and Instagram followers Style Wise has had in the past year. The whole point, after all, is for people to read, learn, and be encouraged to take small steps toward intentional shopping and living.

Also, I have to give a shout out to the Ethical Writers Co. gang, who have supported and challenged me through this year of exploring what it means to be an ethical style blogger and have given me the confidence to seek outside writing and public speaking opportunities. Here's to many more years taking things seriously and writing my heart out.

They aren't a strictly ethical marketplace, but they source from all sorts of brands, including fair trade, environmentally conscious, domestically produced and other ethical and small scale lines. It's a matter of inputting the right search terms, like "fair trade dress" or "made in USA jeans."